If the Federal Convention had never met, there is good reason for believing that the Articles of Confederation, with some amendments, would have been made to work.

The success of the new government was therefore in a large measure dependent upon the favor of the people.

If they wished to do so, they could make it win out in spite of obstacles.

In other words, the new government would succeed exactly to the extent to which the people stood back of it.

This was the critical moment when the slowly growing prosperity, described at length and emphasized in the previous chapters, produced one of its most important effects.